Research

My main research interests are development economics, domestic and international political economy, peace and conflict studies, refugee studies and critical security studies.

Within those general areas of interest I currently have three main research tracks: South-South relations and comparative regionalism , the roots and consequences of the Syrian conflict, and security studies in the Middle East North Africa from a critical perspective. You can find a list of my publications below. Please email me at omardahi@gmail.com if you’d like a copy of my publications.

I am also centrally involved with several research initiatives. I am a co-founder and co-director of the Beirut School for Critical Security Studies Collective , and a co-convener of The Latin East Initiative. I am also a member of the Political Economy Project and formerly served on its steering committee.

Publications:

Books & edited collections

• South-South Trade and Finance in the 21^stCentury: Rise of the South or a Second Great Divergence. London: Anthem Press (co-authored with Firat Demir).

 

• What is Political Economy?JadMag edited collection, 2016, D.C.: Tadween Publishing (co-edited with Bassam Haddad, Ziad Abu Rish, Sherene Seikaly, Joel Beinin). Available at:https://tadweenpublishing.com/products/jadmag-issue-4-2-what-is-political-economy

 

• The Rise of the South: Essays in South-South trade and finance, CLACSO: Buenos Aires. August 2015 (with F. Demir) Available at: http://www.clacso.org.ar/sursur/publicaciones_detalle.php?idioma=&id_libro=995&pageNum_rs_libros=0&s=7)

• Attanmiya Ba’d al’azamat [Post-conflict development]. Booklet prepared for the Syrian League for Citizenship, Dar Al Mwaten Press, Beirut, 2014. Original language of publication: Arabic.

Articles & book chapters

• “Toward a Beirut School of Critical Security Studies” Critical Studies on Security, 2018, 6(3) (with the Beirut School of Critical Security StudiesCollective).

 

• “Latin America-Middle East Ties in the New Global South” Middle East Report 284, 2018 (with Alejandro Velasco).

 

• “South-South and North-South Economic Exchanges: Does it Matter Who is Exchanging What and With Whom” Journal of Economic Surveys, 2017, Vol. 31, No. 5 pp. 1449-1486 (with Firat Demir).     Republished in Analytical Political Economy, eds.Roberto Veneziani and Luca Zamparelli 2018. John Wiley & Sons: New Jersey, pp. 339-380.

 

• “Climate change and the Syrian Civil War Revisited,” Political Geography, September 2017, 60: 232-244 (with Jan Selby, Mike Hulme, and Christiane Frohlich).
  Published by Political Geography as part of special forum on Climate change and the Syrian civil war with replies by Kelley et al. (pp. 245-247); Gleick, Peter H. (pp. 248-250); Hendrix, Cullen S. (251-252) and a rejoinder by Selby, Dahi, Frohlich, and Hulme (pp. 253-255)

 

• “The UN, the Economic and Social Commission for West Asia, and Development in the Arab World,” in Land of Blue Helmets: the United Nations and the Arab World, 2016. eds. Karim Makdisi and Vijay Prashad. Berkeley: UC Press.

 

• “Some days before The Day After,” Middle East Report 274, Spring 2015. Available at:http://www.merip.org/mer/mer274/some-days-day-after

 

• “Syrian Refugees and the Regional Crisis,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Middle East Center’s Syrian Economic Reconstruction Project, December 2014. Available at: http://carnegie-mec.org/2014/12/30/syrian-refugees-and-regional-crisis/hy1e,in Arabic: http://carnegie-mec.org/2015/05/28/ar-60232/i95k

 

• “The Refugee crisis in Jordan and Lebanon: the need for economic development spending,” Forced Migration Review, September 2014.

 

• “The Economic Consequences of the conflict in Syria,” Turkish Review, April 2014. (with C. Ella Wind).

 

• “Preferential Trading Agreements and Manufactured Goods: Does it Matter Who You PTA With?” Applied Economics 2013, 45(34):4754-4772 (with F. Demir).

 

• “Trade Flows, Exchange Rate Uncertainty and Financial Depth: Evidence from 28 Emerging Countries” Southern Economic Journal, 79(4) 2013 (with M. Caglayan and F. Demir).

 

• “Tutto cio che i petrodollari possono comprare” (“The Saudi Arabian economy”), Limes Rivista Italiana di Geopolitica, no. 9, Fall 2013

 

• “The political economy of the Egyptian and Arab Revolt” International Development Studies Bulletin, 43(1) January 2012.

 

• “Revolts in Syria: Tracking the Convergence Between Authoritarianism and Neoliberalism,” Journal of Asian and African Studies(47) 2012 (with Y. Munif).

German translation: INAMO Middle East journal, Winter Issue 2011

Arabic translation: Bidayat journal, Winter/Spring 2012 (inaugural issue)

Reprint Sanhati Journal. “Revolts in Syria:Tracking the Convergence Between Authoritarianism and Neoliberalism,” Sanhati Online Journalwww.sanhati.comOctober 16, 2011.

Reprint Z Magazine“Syria’s Revolts” November 2011.

• “Understanding the Political Economy of the Arab Revolts,” Middle East Report, Summer 2011.

Swedish translation: Fronesisjournal, April 2012.

• “Asymmetric Effects of Financial Development on South-South and South-North Trade: Panel Data Evidence From Emerging Markets,” Journal of Development Economics,2011 (with F. Demir).

 

• “South-South Trade in Manufactures : Current Performance and Obstacles for Growth.” Review of Radical Political Economics 40(3): 266-275, 2008 (with F. Demir).

 

• “The Middle East and North Africa.” A.K. Dutt and J. Ros (eds.), International Handbook of Development Economics. Edward Elgar, 2008 (with F. Demir).

Essays and reviews:

• “Syria: donor conditionality, sanctions, and the question of justice,” London School of Economics Conflict Research Programmeblog, March 2019, https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/crp/2019/03/06/syria-donor-conditionality/
• “1967 and Third Worldism,” in 1967, ed. Sherene Seikaly, JadMag Issue 6.1 Tadween Publishing: Washington D.C. , 2017 https://tadweenpublishing.com/collections/jadmag/products/jadmag-issue-6-1-1967
• “Die Krise der syrischen Flüchtlinge im Libanon”INAMO 78, volume 20, Summer 2014. Language of publication: German (translated from English). Available at: http://www.inamo.de/index.php/heft-78-afghanistan.html
• “’Azmet al-laji’een wa tasharthum Sooria”[The crisis of refugees and the fragmentation of Syria] Bidayat Journal, issues 8-9, summer 2014. Original language of publication: Arabic. Available at: http://www.bidayatmag.com/archive/2014/09
• “Syria in Fragments: The Politics of the Refugee Crisis,” Dissent Magazine, Winter 2014.
• “The Syrian Refugee crisis: challenges and long-term solutions,” Carnegie Middle East Center Syrian Economic Reconstruction Roundtable, October 2013.
• “Breaking Point: The Crisis of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon,” Middle East Report Online, September 25, 2013. Available at: http://www.merip.org/mero/mero092513
• “Chemical Attacks and Military Interventions,” Jadaliyya e-zine, August 28, 2013. Available at: http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/13852/chemical-attacks-and-military-interventions

Spanish translation: http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=173129

Arabic translation: http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/13908/الهجمات-بالسلاح-الكيماوي- والتدخلات-العسكرية

• Review of The Poorer Nations: a possible history of the Global South, by Vijay Prashad. Jadaliyya, May 13, 2013

Available at: http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/11690/the-poorer-nations_a-possible-history-of-the-globa

• “MENA and the Global Economy Pre- and Post- Uprisings” Project on Middle East Political Science, Institute of Middle East Studies, George Washington University, May 28, 2013.
• “Economic roots of the Syrian Uprising,” (Persian) BBC Persian, April 5, 2013 Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/world/2013/04/130405_an_syria_economy.shtml)
• “The Syrian Cataclysm” MERIP Blog, March 4, 2013. Available at: http://www.merip.org/syrian-cataclysm
• “After Battles Comes Syria’s Economic Choices” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace , Sada Online  Journal, December 11, 2012. Available at: http://carnegieendowment.org/sada/2012/12/11/after-battles-come-syria-s-economic-choices/esqj

Arabic version: http://carnegieendowment.org/sada/2012/12/11/esqm)

• Review of Capitalism and Class in the Gulf States, by Adam Hanieh. Arab Studies Journal, Spring 2012 XX (1): 147- Reprint Jadaliyya. Available at: http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/5296/capitalism-and-class-in-the-gulf-arab-states      

• “A Syrian Dilemma” Wiener Institut fur internationalen Dialog und ZusammenarbeitNewsletter (Austria), April 26, 2012 Available at: http://www.vidc.org/?id=1696
• “Syria and the International Left” Translation Exercises blog, March 12, 2012 Available at: http://translationexercises.wordpress.com/category/omar-dahi/

Arabic translation: Al-Manshouronline newspaper, April 16, 2012

• Notes on the Syrian Uprising, Jadaliyya, February 12, 2012. Available at: http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/4382/notes-on-the-syrian-uprisings-(part-1)
• “A Syrian Drama. A Taxonomy of a Revolution,” Syria Comment, August 13, 2011. Available at: www.syriacomment.com

German translation:  INAMOMiddle East journal, Fall Issue September 2011

• Review of Ambiguities of Domination(arabic translation), by Lisa Wedeen. Journal of Palestine Studies, Fall 2011 (in Arabic). (invited)
• “The Arab Revolts,” Center for Popular Economics Newsletter, April 2011
• “Critique of Neoliberalism in Syria,” Syria Comment, November 13^th, 2009. Available at: www.syriacomment.com